On the application of \(e^n\)-methods to three-dimensional boundary layer flows (Q1964304)

The aim is to clarify the confusion about the direction and magnitude of maximum growth in convectively unstable three-dimensional non-parallel boundary layers. The time-asymptotic response of the boundary layer to an impulsive point excitation is considered. Since all frequencies and wavenumbers are excited by an impulsive point source, the most amplified component of the response is equivalent to the result of maximizing the growth over arbitrary choices of harmonic point excitation. The impulse response is calculated using a spatial steepest-descent method, which is distinct from the earlier Cebeci-Stewartson method. It is necessary to allow that both time and spanwise distances become complex during the integration, but with the constraint that both are real at the end point. Dimensional frequencies and spanwise wavenumbers of propagating components are kept constant, as is physically relevant to steady flows with spatial inhomogeneity in the chordwise direction only. With this method a spatial approach is taken without a priori choices of disturbance frequency or wavenumber if the flow is susceptible to more than one convective instability mode, provided the modes are separated in the frequency-wavenumber space. Wave-packet propagation in the Ekman layer is also discussed to perform comparisons between the conditions for maximum growth in parallel and non-parallel boundary layers.